This line is so easily edited that I think it almost always is. I certainly would make that choice of excising the middle, qualifying clause if I were trying to cut some time off the Hamlet monster. And almost everyone is looking for ways to cut time off this baby. Very few people want to produce a four hour Hamlet and maybe even fewer want to see a four hour Hamlet. Qualifying clauses that only slightly disrupt the meter with their absence go first.
I like this clause, though. I picture Polonius’ brain, a mass of grey matter, capped with a hunting hat, a rifle strapped across its side and a safari mustache across the frontal lobes.
There it is, sniffing at a trail of policy – following it along through the wilderness, picking up paperwork and edicts as it goes. Behind it, his assistant carries Polonius’ many trophies of policy – important, sealed, official documents, certificates, medals of honor, balanced ledgers.
The Hamlet Project 